This invention generally relates to methods and systems that generate information associated with geographic locations, targeted content delivery, targeted search results, navigation systems, mobile conversion tracking, and location based services on mobile devices. More specifically, this invention relates to methods and systems for processing and reporting mobile location data in order to provide targeted content, conversion tracking, and other information and services to businesses and users of mobile devices. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see references 1 through 16 and 36 through 40 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
There is significant benefit provided by methods and systems that provide an improved targeted advertising system that is able to deliver content to a mobile audience that may subsequently conveniently visit the advertiser's business. The methods and systems also provide feedback to advertisers including conversion tracking of mobile advertisements that result in sales at their retail locations. Furthermore, significant benefit is also provided by methods and systems of paying via mobile phones that are coupled to mobile advertisement systems, and systems that track conversions.
There is significant benefit provided by methods and systems that provide a better display of content on a mobile device that exploits the form factor and features of the mobile device. Current targeted content efforts have not taken advantage of all the features mobile devices have to offer. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see reference 5 below, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
There is significant benefit provided by methods and systems that provide search results and targeted content based upon the current course of the user instead of simply the radial distance from the user. There is also significant benefit provided by methods and systems that provide up-to-date cartographic information. For purposes of illustration and without limitation, when a car is traveling north there may be a gas station one mile south but it is better to remain on course and visit a different gas station three miles ahead of the current location and along the desired route.
Significant benefit is provided by a content targeting methods and systems usable with mobile devices that not only search for results closest to the current location of the mobile device, but also take into account other information in order to provide more useful results for the user. The methods and systems analyze current or historical locations, speeds, headings of the mobile device, or combinations thereof, as recorded by the device, by a remote system, or both, and deliver search result information, including content from advertisers interested in targeting consumers in the areas the consumer typically travels. Thus, in one application, if a consumer usually travels along a given route to and from work, where a specific advertiser owns a business, it would be desirable if the content produced by the advertiser would be more likely to reach the consumer than another consumer that never passes by any business locations of the advertiser. In another application, targeted content for businesses on the right hand side of the road may have preference over targeted content on the left hand side of the road in the United States since it may be easier to make a right hand turn than a left hand turn. If the content is something that the targeted consumer is interested in, they are more likely to respond to the content and visit the business location of the advertiser because it is convenient for them to stop at the business location, based on the flow of automobile traffic. In forms of the invention with integrated navigation features, the current or any historical route may be used to provide results for businesses that are easily accessible from the current route or other likely routes. Furthermore, the types of businesses along the route that the mobile device is currently on or usually takes, the types of businesses that the mobile device appears to visit based on past location and other data, the types of targeted content that the device has responded to, preferences and favored keywords of the user, historical search queries from the mobile device or another associated device or account on a remote system, reminder flags set from the mobile device or another associated device or account on a remote system, and preferences of advertisers may also be used to more effectively target content for mobile devices. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see references 1, 2, and 17 through 35 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by a content targeting methods and systems usable with mobile devices that provide feedback to the advertisers—especially those advertisers that have brick and mortar businesses—to help them judge the effectiveness of their targeted content. The effectiveness of a business' advertising effort may be measured by determining with regard to a user of a device that has received targeted content one or more of: whether the user visits a business location of a content producer after their content has been delivered to the device; the time spent at the location; and, how much money was spent at the business by that user (especially in the case where the user pays through an online payment service utilizing the mobile device).
There is significant benefit provided by methods and systems that facilitate sharing of location information with friends, family, acquaintances, and the general public. These methods and systems may provide personal information or may anonomyze the data depending on privacy settings and the particular application. These methods and systems help a user of the system locate friends and family members and provide up-to-date information about the popularity or business of business locations. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see reference 50 below, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
There is significant benefit provided by improved GPS functionality in these devices in order to better provide location based services and to enable reliable location based services indoors. The methods and systems incorporate Bluetooth®, Near Field Radios such as RFID, Wi-Fi, WiMax, 700 MHz Radios, GPS, or combinations thereof The methods and systems may incorporate more accurate GPS chipsets such as the SIRF Star III or even more accurate GPS chipsets, A-GPS, cell tower triangulation, terrestrial FM or TV signals, altimeters, pressure sensors, or a combination thereof in addition to other location determination and sensing technologies in conjunction with one another. To further improve the accuracy, filtering techniques may be employed (e.g., a Kalman filter, etc.). To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see references 41 through 64 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by methods and systems that report more accurate addresses, business names, and other information that corresponds to the location reported by mobile devices. Current location based services simply show a pinpoint on a map or an approximate street address that does not correspond to the actual location inside of a business location. Street addresses typically correspond to locations along the road while the location information from the cellular phone usually indicates a location set back from the road representing the user's actual location inside of a business location. Other reasons why street address information may be inaccurate is that the geocoding algorithms that calculate the street address are incorrect at times, or they cannot account for all of the variations that must occur in the addressing scheme to account for various city layouts. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, refer to references 17 through 28 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by navigation software that not only takes into account current traffic conditions in providing routes, but methods and systems that are able to determine how many people are taking any given route and orchestrate traffic by distributing travelers judiciously across all available streets to avoid congestion on the most well known paths. The methods and systems provide traffic information enabling users to avoid traffic congestion. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, refer to references 17 through 28, 65 through 69, and 131 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by an incentive system to entice consumers to go out of their way to visit the business location of an advertiser. The methods and systems provide digital coupon delivery usable with mobile devices. When the advertising system sends a targeted advertisement to a consumer, it may be beneficial to provide an incentive in the form of a coupon or discount valid at the advertiser's place of business. The type or value of the discount may be tied to the amount of effort that is required by the consumer to visit the advertiser's business from the current course of travel. The incentive may additionally or alternatively be subject to other conditions imposed by the advertising system or the advertiser.
There is significant benefit provided by methods and systems that entice users to visit business locations where there is relatively little effort on the part of the customer or the business to implement the incentive mechanism. The methods and systems may assign a value to the coupon related to the effort that would be required for the potential customer to get to the store from their current location and route. Furthermore, the methods and systems may automatically apply the coupon to the purchase price or they may provide a simple mechanism for application of the coupon. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see references 39, 40, and 130 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by advertising methods and systems that include one or more of: an interface for advertisers to produce or input their targeted content into an advertising system, a database that contains business locations and optionally other information such as phone numbers and business classifications, a secure database that contains tracking information for mobile devices and other user information, a search engine, a navigation or mapping system, and a software package with a suitable user interface for displaying location based targeted content on mobile devises. Using these and other elements as building blocks, any combination systems within the spirit of the invention may be put into place. To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, refer to references 69 through 83 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Significant benefit is provided by methods and systems that encourage mobile device users to embrace the incredibly useful cell phone tracking features for their benefit. Despite the utility that this invention is provides, there is likely to be at least some resistance and reluctance to implement the invention due to what people perceive to be privacy concerns. Many people and organizations, such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation, are very reluctant to have their search habits, email, website viewing habits, and other personal information recorded while they browse the internet. This is true even if the information is not associated with any personal information. In order for increased privacy on the internet, some people even go as far as to disable very helpful and non-threatening features of web browsers such as cookies. Since many people are overly cautious of their internet location being known, they are even more resistant to their physical location known to a system that is able to analyze the data. Furthermore, there have been numerous recent court cases over the use of cell phone tracking To shorten and simplify the description of the invention, see references 84 through 86 below, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
So as to reduce the complexity and length of the Detailed Specification, and to fully establish the state of the art in certain areas of technology, Applicant herein expressly incorporates by reference all of the following materials identified in each numbered paragraph below. The incorporated materials are not necessarily “prior art” and Applicant expressly reserves the right to swear behind any of the incorporated materials. Furthermore, the full text of non-patent literature incorporated by reference below may be included in the file wrapper of this application.    1. U.S. Publication Number 20060248062 entitled “Method and system for content search with mobile computing devices.”    2. U.S. Publication Number 20060242017 entitled “Method and system of bidding for advertisement placement on computing devices.”    3. U.S. Publication Number 20060190331 entitled “Delivering targeted advertising to mobile devices.”    4. U.S. Pat. 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Applicant believes that the material incorporated above is “non-essential” in accordance with 37 CFR 1.57, because it is referred to for purposes of indicating the background of the invention or illustrating the state of the art. However, if the Examiner believes that any of the above-incorporated material constitutes “essential material” within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.57(c)(1)-(3), applicant will amend the specification to expressly recite the essential material that is incorporated by reference as allowed by the applicable rules.